My First Thanksgiving

My First Thanksgiving

Coming from the U.K. pretty much the only time we eat a roast turkey with all the trimmings is on Christmas Day. We don’t have Thanksgiving so, not being Canadian, I hadn’t anticipated doing anything special. A newfound friend invited us to spend the afternoon in the company of her family and friends whicch certainly made the holiday weekend a little more lively than dinner for two. It was a lovely way to spend my first Thanksgiving in Canada and to get a taste of an authentic Canadian (whatever that means) Thanksgiving dinner.  After a few rounds of Bocci outside and a trip to the barn to view some hunting trophies we ventured back inside with anticipation of the delicous meal.  We gave thanks for the Wild Turkey that we were about to devour, killed in honour of the event and then let our tastebuds discover the new flavours of a traditionally Manitoban Thanksgiving dinner:

Sweet Potato Caserole – a soft mix that went well with gravy but had a suprising crunch of cornflakes added on top.  I was thankful that our host had ommitted the marshmallows that were indicated in the recipe as I find something slightly off-putting about mixing actual sweets with savoury food.

Vegetable Jelly – In the bowl this resembled a trifle but was quite different in taste and texture.  Layers of vegetable jelly in bright colours of green, red and orange.  Not being one for Cranberry sauce which is of a similar consistancy I found this to be a bit odd but tried it nevertheless.

Wild Turkey – Slightly drier than the usual bird but prepared in a delicious mushroom sauce and hunted especially for the occasion. I doubt the bird was particularly happy about that fact but it was appreciated.

On the whole the meal was wholesome and seemed to be a combined effort which made it all the more yummy.  I barely had room for dessert (of which there were several!) Crab-apple Pie won for me although pumpkin pie appeared to be the favourite among our North American friends.

All in all it was lovely afternoon and a great way to spend my first ever Canadian Thanksgiving dinner – interesting food and entertaining conversation, particularly from members of the group from the other side of the Canada-USA boarder.

All that remains to say is “Thank You!”

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